March 14, 2017

Sake and Zazen

A certain Zen teacher
celebrated with his students, drinking sake and whiskey until after midnight,
then rose next morning before dawn. Peevish, he expressed annoyance that his
American students had not risen in time to do zazen [Zen meditation] before
morning service. When they murmured that their sluggishness might be accounted
for by all the drink, the teacher snapped, “Sake is one thing, and zazen is
another! They have nothing to do with each other!”